Murder at dawn

Comrade Olalekan Lawal, a petroleum tanker driver was brutally murdered by suspected security operative for refusing to part with 500 naira. His remains had since been buried while members of his family and the Tankers Drivers Association are begging for justice. Taiwo Abiodun reports

A tanker driver was shot dead for his refusal to cough out 500 naira allegedly demanded by a security officer attached to OPMESSA. The security officer in uniform allegedly brought out his rifle, corked it, at a close range pulled the trigger and shot the driver on his chest. The deafening sound disrupted the quiet night. The young man, Comrade Olalekan Lawal, immediately slumped as blood covered him all over.

To cover up, the security officer, along with his colleagues, reportedly started shooting into the air to scare the deceased’s mates away. In a jiffy, the officers in uniform allegedly removed the pellets from the body of the fallen man apparently to prevent their being traced. Later, a mob gathered and angrily summoned courage to attack the security men who eventually fled the scene. In their efforts to revive the driver and amidst the tension, none of the witnesses had the presence of mind to write down the registration number of the vehicle the OPMESSA operatives brought before they fled the scene.

At the General Hospital, Isolo, in the course of The Nation ‘s investigation, the autopsy presented revealed that the victim was shot but the pellets that would have been embedded in him had been removed .

The tragic event happened in the early morning of 25 April this year, precisely at 2am. The 34 year -old man, known as Comrade Lawal, had worked as a petroleum tanker for five years. He was said to have had a tall dream when he woke up the previous day, April 24. He was bubbling with enthusiasm and was with high hopes. He was preparing to host his friends and professional colleagues the following week for his birthday. He planned ahead, gave his wife money for it, and said goodbye to his three children and his wife who reside in Ibadan. Little did he know that would be his last interaction with them.

In the wee hours of April 25, his wife received a call that her husband was in the hospital. She was later told that he had been brutally murdered by a trigger-happy unknown security operative.

According to Comrade Tayo Aboyeji , the Zonal Public Relations Officer of the Petroleum Tankers Drivers Lagos Zonal Executive Council, ” I was called on that fateful morning around 2:30 am to tell me that one of the Operation MESSA officers had shot dead one of our tanker drivers, Olalekan Lawal, who refused to give them 500 naira at the Coconut Park along Apapa Road (Tin Can Island Express Road).

The deceased was said to have patiently waited for days until it was his turn to load the petroleum products and travel that night. However, after loading and on his way to his destination, a security officer from Operation MESSA allegedly accosted him and asked him to give him some litres of petroleum for ‘testing’, according to their common parlance, meaning he should pay 500 naira. This was said to be customary though illegitimate.

The tanker driver, however, refused to pay. The security operative vowed to teach him a lesson for proving stubborn the officer opened fire and then shot him at a close range, hitting him on his chest while the sound attracted others. He fell down , but immediately he fell other soldiers were shooting sporadically into the air to scare sympathizes away.

The fear, annoyance could not let anybody write down the number of the said vehicle while we could identify the assailant , it was the driver who was the next turn to the deceased on the line that saw all these and gave us the full details to us. When the angry mob got there the soldiers had fled the place , While efforts were made to revive him. He was taken to the Isolo General Hospital but before he got there, he had died.

A rowdy riot and demonstration ensued but the personnel at the OPMESSA calmed us down and promised to dig into its root and fish out the culprit. We reported the case at the Trinity Police Station , Ajegunle -Apapa. From where we took the case to the the Naval office , NNS Beecroft. If I had not arrived that spot on that morning there could have been a riot.

Since that Black day in April, everybody has been asking what could have made the assailant pumped hot lead into this young man’s heart?” For the family of the late Lekan and members of the Trailer Tankers Association, it has been a surprise that the officer who pulled the trigger has not been apprehended till now.

Speaking to The Nations, his younger brother, Taiwo Samuel, who was drenched in tears, said “he was the family’s bread winner! His last child was three years old. He still has aged parents he was taking care of.

Lekan’s corpse was later retrieved from the mortuary after an autopsy and he had since been buried . His wife had gone to stay with her mother in a remote area in Ibadan because she said she would not be able to cope or live alone in the house the family were living before the death of her husband.

Another cousin of the deceased, Saheed Samuel, said the news jolted them and hit them like thunderbolt. His words:” We all live in Ibadan and he comes to Apapa here to offload and drive his tanke,r not knowing this is what will end him. It is too bad for a man looking for his daily bread to be killed like that, it is bad. It is too sad .I was called to come to Lagos and appear before his co-workers and comrades here to represent the family, for his wife and aged parents cannot come”.

The National PRO of the Petroleum Tankers Drivers (NUPENG branch), Comrade Atanda Adebayo fought back his tears and narrated how these security men used to force them to part with 500 naira, he said. Our member who was on his legitimate duty met his untimely death when the officials of OP MESSA shot him at a close range for his refusal to part with an illegitimate fee of. 500naira, a practice which is common among the officials

The National PRO also said ”We wish to bring to the public notice, constant harassment ,brutalization and extortion of our members by the officials of the Operation MESSA and the law enforcement agents , a situation which is already taken its tolls on us as a union.” He continued,” The circumstances leading to Olalekan’ s death was unfortunate and unbearable to say the least. A situation whereby he was killed prematurely over a fee of 500 naira is disheartening and we want the government to take necessary steps to arrest the situation.”

Adebayo reminded the Lagos State government that the union had at several times alerted the government on the use of force by these law enforcement agents to extort money from them. He said: On the number of occasions, we have drawn the attention of the government to series of high handedness of law enforcement agents on our members without any cogent response. But for the intervention of our Lagos Zonal officers who were at the scene on that fateful day , the situation could have degenerated to an unprecedented level. Our officers ‘ investigation confirmed the killing of Comrade Olalekan Lawal by officers of Operation MESSA”

According to Comrade Adebayo, ” The office of OPMESA had been approached and though they denied but said they are still investigating .The personnel calls me almost every day giving me update about their investigation and promised to call whenever the suspect is caught . I believe they are cooperating. They even called me yesterday morning, telling me that investigation was still going on as they had intensified efforts to get the suspect and charged him to court. So we are still waiting for the outcome. ”

On the whereabouts of the vehicle driven by the slain driver, one of the comrades said ‘the owner had taken it away, I’m sure he had returned to his business.”

What has become of his assistant, the motor boy? According to Adebayo, the motor boy has been psychologically affected, because he could not believe what happened to his boss in his presence could be true. Adebayo added that the driver’s assistant “has gone back to his village in Ijebu as he was said to be having nightmare of the incidence. I learnt he said he would never do the job again. It is just pathetic.”

A petition has been written by the tanker drivers’ union to the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, asking him to investigate the matter and have the family of the slain driver compensated,”

The wife of the deceased refused to talk to the press. According to one of his in-laws, “She does not want to talk to the press at all for she is too weak and she is crying day and night”.